Working with projects

A project groups the time and invoices of one job for a customer. It can have its own hourly rate, rounding, budget and included hours. Folnaro shows you at any time how much is logged, how much is not yet billed and how much of the budget is used.

The project list with its budget gauges and the inspector with the week rhythm of the selected project.

When a project is worth it

For a single job without special terms, the customer is enough. You need a project when:

a job has a different hourly rate than the customer’s usual one
you want to keep an estimate or a cost cap in view
a customer pays for a monthly allowance of hours
you want to separate time by activities such as design or implementation
several jobs of the same customer are billed separately

Add a project

Choose File > New > Project, or under Projects click New Project in the toolbar.
Give the project a Name and, if you like, a Color and a Number.
Choose the Customer. A project without a customer works too, for example for internal work. You can bill it once it has a customer.
Choose the Status: Planned, Active, Paused or Done.
Under Rate, Budget and Activities, set what is different for this project. Empty fields take the customer’s values.
Click Save.

Hourly rate and rate history

Folnaro looks for the rate of an hour in this order: first the project rate, then the customer’s rate, then your default rate. When the Hourly rate field is empty, it reads Inherited.

A changed rate applies from today. Earlier time keeps its rate, and existing invoice lines never change. For another day or a single activity, add a rate to the Rate History:

Open the project with Edit. Dated rate changes are possible once the project has been saved.
Under Rate, enter the New rate and choose the day under Valid from. If it applies to one activity only, also choose the Activity.
To return to the customer’s rate from a day on, turn on Use the customer’s rate instead.
Click Add.

The inspector shows under Rate History which rate applies from when.

Rounding and minimum time

Many contracts set the steps you bill in, for example quarter hours. Under Rounding you choose:

Same as customer: takes the customer’s rule. If the customer has none, the rounding you choose when billing applies.
Exact seconds: bills the tracked time without rounding.
Full minutes: rounds each entry up to the next full minute.
A step in minutes, for example 15 minutes: Direction sets whether Folnaro should Round up, Round down or Round to nearest.

Minimum per entry bills each entry with a minimum time, for example 15 minutes for a short call. Rounding happens per entry when you bill. The tracked time itself stays unchanged. The value under Not yet billed rounds exactly as the invoice would.

Budget and approval

Under Budget you record what you agreed with the customer:

Budget (Hours) and Budget (Amount) for an estimate
Cost cap when an amount must not be exceeded
Warn from: the share of the budget from which Folnaro warns you
Approved by the customer, with Approved on and How approved, for example “Email, call or signed quote”

The list shows a budget gauge per project. When the budget is exceeded, the project reads Over Budget and the inspector Over budget by, otherwise Remaining. A budget without approval shows Not approved yet. Leave the fields empty if the project has no budget.

Included hours and billing cycle

When a customer pays for a fixed allowance, for example ten hours a month, enter the Included hours per cycle under More.

Choose the Billing cycle: Monthly or Quarterly. Then choose the Cutoff day, for example End of month. Without its own cycle the project follows the customer’s cycle.
Enter the Included hours per cycle.
Turn on Carry unused hours over if unused hours move into the next cycle.
If needed, enter a Rate for extra hours. Empty means the regular rate.

Included hours are deducted before billing. For the running period the inspector shows Recorded, Available, Covered, Billable and Carried over. Entries after the cutoff go into the next cycle. How to bill cycles together is described in Billing cycles and collective invoices.

Activities

Under Activities, Add Activity adds for example “Design”, “Implementation” and “Meetings”. You then pick the activity for each time entry. Invoices and reports show a subtotal per activity. In the rate history you can give an activity its own rate.

See where a project stands

Select a project. Under Time, the inspector shows:

This week with the week rhythm: a small bar per day shows when you worked on the project
Logged, Not yet billed and the Unbilled value of that time
Proposed when an agent proposed time that you still have to approve
the current Hourly rate, the Billing cycle and the Rounding

Below that come Unbilled Entries, the project’s Documents, the Rate History and your Notes. In the list you filter by Customer in the toolbar.

The project inspector with week rhythm, unbilled time and budget.

Track time on a project

Select the project and choose Start Timer for This Project in the context menu, or press ⌃⌘T.
Press ⌘K and type the project name. In the results you start the timer for this project directly.
In the menu bar timer you choose the project when you start, or switch it while the timer runs.

A project that is done takes no new time and does not appear in the timer and time entry pickers. If you still start a timer on it, Folnaro asks whether to reopen it. Reopen and Start makes it active again and starts the timer. A paused or planned project still takes time.

Everything about the timer, time entries and the view of time by project is described in Track and bill time.

Bill a project

Select the project.
In the inspector, click Bill … h, or choose New Invoice for the Customer in the context menu.
Folnaro shows a preview of the lines with rounding, rate and included hours. Check it and put the time on the invoice.
Finalize the invoice. Only then does the time count as Billed. While the invoice is a draft, it reads In draft. If you delete the draft, the time is open again.

Show Time Entries takes you to all time entries of the project.

Close, archive or delete projects

When the work is done, set the status to Done, under Status in the context menu or in the editor. The project stays visible but takes no more time.
Edit > Archive (⌃⌘A) removes it from the list and the pickers. Through Show in the toolbar you show archived projects again and bring them back with Restore.
Delete Project… removes a project only when it has neither time nor documents. Otherwise Folnaro archives it, so nothing loses its project.

Common problems

The project is missing from the timer’s picker: It is done or archived. Set the status to Active, or bring it back with Restore.
New Invoice for the Customer is dimmed: The project has no customer. Open it with Edit and choose the Customer.
An invoice uses the old rate: The time was logged before the day the new rate applies from. Add a rate with an earlier Valid from to the Rate History and put the time on a draft again. Finalized invoices keep their rate.
The billed hours differ from the tracked hours: Rounding or Minimum per entry works per entry, or included hours are deducted. Check the settings under Rate and More.
The project cannot be deleted: It has tracked time or documents. Archive it instead.